THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1902, SIR JOHN LOGAN CAMPBELL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12003, 27 June 1902, Page 4

THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1902, SIR JOHN LOGAN CAMPBELL.

The affectionate care of the King has prevented the withholding of those honours for distinguished subjects, prearranged in connection with the Coronation which was to have been celebrated yesterday. Among those whose services to King and Country are thus royally recognised is "the father of Auckland."

The career of John Logan Campbell is so interwoven with our civic and provincial history that the knighting of our most esteemed citizen is a matter of personal interest and mutual congratulation to us all. Since the day when he landed at Orakei and with prophetic instinct foresaw the growth of a great city upon the fern-clad isthmus which unfolded itself from Mount Hobson, he pioneered its establishment and devoted his great abilities to its success. Grown old among us he has made every citizen his debtor and inheritor by that crowning gift which hailed the landing of our Royal visitors and will keep his memory ever green among generations to whom his genial personality is unknown. Yet not more prominently does the treed summit of Cornwall Park stand amid the beautiful surroundings of our city than does the life and work of its magnanimous donor stand amid the records of our civic history. It is monumental of that deep love of the Beautiful, and of that ceaseless desire to elevate, to humanise and to inspire the whole of his fellow citizens, which first spurred him on to the founding of Auckland, and has since won for him the unique standing he possesses in our midst. There cannot be one in our city and suburbsneither man nor woman nor child — is conscious of what has been done by those who found the place a barren wilderness and made it what it is, who does not feel a personal joy and satisfaction in the Royal recognition which has been bestowed upon the first of Aucklanders; nor can there be one of our few remaining pioneers who does not feel in it part and share. It is true that "the rank is but the guinea stamp," but here we have the gold itself—doubly refined by a long and honourable life and by national patriotism and civic generosity. Knighthood has come to many who have deserved well of their Country and their King. But we do not fear to- say that it has never fallen upon shoulders more worthy to bear it and has never been given to one whose honouring excited more universal local satisfaction. For it is with almost feudal feelings that Auckland congratulates Sir John Logan Campbell. Honour bestowed upon him is honour bestowed upon us all. The other New Zealand recipient of honours is Captain W. R. Russell, whose selection is not less indicative of the close understanding which has been established between the colony and'the Crown. We are sure that his political opponents will be as warm as his political friends in congratulating Sir William Russell Russell. A soldier and the son of a soldier, who has done yeoman service in our own Maori wars, now so happily covered by the close friendship of the two races, he has given his soldier son to the cause of the Empire in South Africa. It is the lot of few to attain such a position as that attained by John Logan Campbell in Auckland, to be the friend and partisan of all, to be the rival and opponent of none. But a high place is, by common consent and acknowledgment, allotted to those who, without waiving a single conviction, can carry through Parliamentary strife the respect and esteem of their antagonists. Among such true gentlemen, the ex-leader of Opposition has always been ranked. As we have said, his political opponents will appreciate the honour being done him as much as will those who have shared with him j the chill shades of political reverse —a sufficient tribute to the wisdom with which the Crown has been actuated in its choice.

Returning to Sir John Logan Campbell, whose knighthood is of such especial Auckland interest, we must take the occasion to refer briefly to some of his many services. Industrially, he has been the pioneer of some of our most flourishing export trades. Professionally, he is remembered with gratitude by grayhaired men and women. Financially, he helped to give us the local banking business which has had such a fostering influence upon industry and commerce. Politically, he was Superintendent and representative before most of the community were born, worked hard and loyally for responsible government, was a, member of the first responsible Ministry and could easily have satisfied the most ambitious political career. But he has always been essentially a lover of his city and a believer in its future. Bom with the roving instinct, his journeyings through classic and through modern lands always ended in his return to Waitemata and in duty after duty

being thrust upon him by his fellow i citizens,, who saw with a perception I which does honour to their intelli- ! gence /that even in his absence his I heart was still on the narrow isthmus of Auckland. Artist by nature, and equally so by the help of a sustained culture available to so few of our pioneers, he lias exerted for two generations an ennobling artistic influence among the many with whom le lias come into personal contact, lie results of tint influence are unmistakable. Thai we should have a beaitiful city as well as a beautiful site, that Art and Science should minister to all and that the richer shouli help the poorer to the pure joys tlat spring herefrom, has ever been t»e Campbell creed. So that it was n> new departure, but the inevitable development of his plans and forecasts wlich made him give to the people of Auckland that magnificent park-land that will ever remain the Imperishable monument of their pioieer and benefactor— Sir John Logm Campbell.